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On the other other hand, I guess I wouldn’t mind a good, hard fucking after all the shit I’ve been through.
“Fine,” is all I say.
His eyebrows quirk up, perhaps surprised that I’m not putting up more of a fight.
“But as soon as I can get a comm or go to a bank, I’ll be paying my own way,” I add firmly. “I don’t mind you keeping the rescue money. You did save my ass more than once.”
He grunts noncommittally, and I know he will try to weasel his way out of accepting my money.
“All you have to do is take me to a bank or something,” I say. “If I can access my account, I can start planning my next move.”
“We can go to the station hub if you want to get credits or make comm calls,” he agrees. “But we can’t go until daytime.”
“What do you mean? There is no night and day. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“You groundfolk need to adjust your mindset. People can’t live without a night and day, so we still abide by sunlight rising and falling.”
“Groundfolk?”
“Planet-bound. Unfamiliar with the way of the great black sea,” he explains. “Nighttime is still nighttime. And in a place like this? It’s too dangerous.”
Around us, there is certainly an air of desperation. There are anxious groups of aliens that hustle to and fro on the platform, begging to be admitted on a ship. Meanwhile, the sad forms huddled against the walls of the city seem to have given up entirely. They might be inhuman, but their expressions are no different from the forgotten people one encounters in most major cities—hopeless and tired.
We pass through the gates into the city streets. The place doesn’t have much personality. The buildings all look the same, varying only in their level of cleanliness and the signs hanging outside the doors and windows. Niko keeps me close to him, and I let him lead the way so I can look around. Huge columns dotted around the streets support a false atmosphere bubble, but it can’t be seen. The columns disappear into the darkness of the “night” sky. While Niko stops to check some kind of alien travel review website, I stare through shop windows and marvel at the strange alien meats roasting on spits inside. It’s vaguely creepy, but for a split-second, I don’t feel like I’m on the run.
“Rut it all, Raina,” Niko mutters as he hustles over to where I’ve wandered. “I didn’t know where you were for a moment.”
I’m tempted to laugh, but he looks genuinely worried.
“Uh, sorry?”
He glances through the window. “You don’t want those. Trust me. I got a place, so let’s go. I’m dying to get these clothes washed.”
Once we’re checked in to the unremarkable hotel room, I head straight for the bed after I relieve myself in the bathroom and splash my face with water. My eyes are shutting as soon as I lean my back against the headboard, even while Niko is still speaking to me about the amenities and his plans for the morning. His voice gets more and more distant as I sink into the deepest sleep. It feels like a dream when I hear his soft laughter in my ear. Gentle hands adjust my position and place a pillow under my head. He tucks me under a blanket and whispers words in my ear that I won’t remember.
Exhaustion wreaks havoc on my body. I’ve been running on empty for weeks. Half of the time I’ve only slept because my captors induced it in order to easily move us or clean out the cage without me attacking them. My body has whiplash between the jolts of adrenaline and injections of mysterious drugs.
I wake up groggily, unsure whether the last twenty-four hours were an insanely detailed dream. But my eyes open to an unending expanse of muscled back. Niko is beside me, unshakeable proof that he’s not a figment of my imagination. Smooth gray skin that leads my gaze from the nape of his thick neck to the divot just above the waistband of his pants. It’s such a yummy sight; I’d like to reach out and touch.
I take the opportunity to appreciate him while he’s turned the other way and asleep. He’s a beautiful man, and I find myself wishing I could play with him at my leisure. If only he wasn’t ready to tie me to a hitching post. I’d jump his bones in a heartbeat if he didn’t have that weird hang up where we’re “matebonded.”
Fuck, I admitted that to him out loud, didn’t I?
He left a respectable distance between us, even though the bed we’re sharing is not exactly king-sized. I lift myself slowly, realizing that my feet are bare. I’m repulsed by the idea that he removed the boots I haven’t taken off in days, no doubt releasing a stench that could kill.
The sound of his deep intake of breath alarms me, and he turns around before I can pretend to be asleep.
I find myself faced with that infuriatingly handsome grin.
“Awake at last, mykaia?”
“What are you calling me now?”
“A fearless beast of the woods. Your eyes, your hateful glares, your . . . deadly nature. They all remind me of this goddess of the wilds.”
“So, an animal. How sweet.”
“What animal from Earth might I remind you of?” He asks, propping his head on his hand as if we’re lovers enjoying casual pillow talk. “Not a lungfish, I hope.”
